New Member Saying Hello, With a Question

[TopherVT]

Saying hello as a new member to the site! I am a member of the Kioti pack with a 2010 (I believe by the SN) CK35 HST. Bought it as a holdover at roughly the same time we bought a new house in the countryside in Vermont. Our house is situated on 4 acres. We have a long (roughly 100 yards) gravel drive. With the exception of the "lawn" immediately surrounding the house, we have no back yard (overgrown, trees, stumps from the land clearing, ledge and rocks). Between the 18k for the tractor and the 1.5k for the 64" 3 pt. blower I could not afford a backhoe. Now I'm starting to second guess my purchase. With the exception of using the blower and FEL in the winter, the occasional FEL task in the summer and driving the 3 year old up and down the driveway it basically sits in the garage as is apparent with only 70 hours on the meter (and I bought it with 10). With 2 kids in daycare I really hate to dive into another loan for a backhoe yet it seems to be the missing link between what I have now and really enjoying/ using this tractor to it's potential. Is the Kioti KB2475 capable enough for removing stumps (most 8-10" in diameter)? Do I sell the tractor and put the money towards a used mini excavator? But then I lose the bucket and FEL. Do I sell it and put the money towards a used Case or Deere backhoe and have the best of both worlds? Absolutely love the tractor but feel like it's under-used. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[mguitas]

I have a compact because I'm in town. But most of the people out in the valley have a industral backhoes on there farm. An even a koiti not going to out do them. If i live out of town, i would have a industral hoe too. Maybe you should get a case or deere.

 

[gkh7890]

Curious.....how many trees/stumps do you have? Can you post any pics? Would it make any sense to rent a backhoe/trackhoe for those and keep your Kioti? I would think that once you get the backyard cleared, the CK35 and finish mower would make quite the equipment to have on hand???

I understand the budget issue all too well. I think you have a nice setup now and renting or borrowing the equipment to do the clearing may be your best bet in the end once you evaluate what the costs will be to trade out/sell & buy the equipment for clearing and then going back to get something to maintain the 4 acres you have. Just food for thought.....best wishes!

 

[jerrybob]

Curious.....how many trees/stumps do you have? Can you post any pics? Would it make any sense to rent a backhoe/trackhoe for those and keep your Kioti? I would think that once you get the backyard cleared, the CK35 and finish mower would make quite the equipment to have on hand???

I understand the budget issue all too well. I think you have a nice setup now and renting or borrowing the equipment to do the clearing may be your best bet in the end once you evaluate what the costs will be to trade out/sell & buy the equipment for clearing and then going back to get something to maintain the 4 acres you have. Just food for thought.....best wishes!

Yea....I agree.....look into renting a small excavator or backhoe......get rid of your stumps and keep your tractor.

 

[rjwerth]

Buying a bh specifically to pop stumps seems like a bad idea to me as there are several cheaper and faster ways to accomplish that task. If you have some additional tasks for the bh, that's a different story.

 

[Gil Case]

I hear all of the above, but I have never regretted putting the 2465 on my CK20Hst. I have dug out stumps and planted trees, dug drainage, dug up sink hole in driveway (3 times) and on and on. The beauty of owning the BH is not that it can't be done another way (maybe even cheaper), but that you can do it your way on your time schedule. Every time I rent a machine or tool, it is a big rush to get it done and get the machine back before I have to pay for another day etc.
So it depends how much convenience is worth to you. The 2475 would have no problem with 8" to 10" tree stumps. I have dug those out with the 2465.
Topher lives in VT, like in CT, there is no soil up there, just a little bit between the rocks, so any "digging" is more rock removal than digging and much easier with a BH.

 

[chemteck29]

I hear all of the above, but I have never regretted putting the 2465 on my CK20Hst. I have dug out stumps and planted trees, dug drainage, dug up sink hole in driveway (3 times) and on and on. The beauty of owning the BH is not that it can't be done another way (maybe even cheaper), but that you can do it your way on your time schedule. Every time I rent a machine or tool, it is a big rush to get it done and get the machine back before I have to pay for another day etc.
So it depends how much convenience is worth to you. The 2475 would have no problem with 8" to 10" tree stumps. I have dug those out with the 2465.
Topher lives in VT, like in CT, there is no soil up there, just a little bit between the rocks, so any "digging" is more rock removal than digging and much easier with a BH.

I think this is a good point right here and it's also the reason I'm currently looking for a bigger tractor. I have 3 acres, 2 of which need to be cleared of junk pine trees and brush. In addition down the road I'll likely inherit another ~5 acres. We just had our place built 2 years ago and like in your situation just had enough cleared for the house and a decent back yard. When I bought my Husqvarna GTH27V48LS I fully planned on just buying that and renting larger equipment to clear the rest. I also did not know at the time I bought my GT that the additional acreage was coming. Well, after completing a very small portion of what needs to be done and further calculating the cost of renting to finish what I want done for now at least it became blatantly clear that it's just not cost effective to keep renting. For one I can't possibly get everything done in a weekend. Believe me stuff happens, bad weather, family obligations, being called into work,.....the list goes on and on and at the end of the day you still have to return that machine on time or spend more money whether the project is done or not. And if the rental place is any distance away, buy the time you unload and reload the equipment and travel to and fro you've burned up 2 hours of rental time already. You could have it delivered, but believe me that isn't cheap. For me to have a backhoe brought in (because I don't have a truck large enough to haul it.) would be darn near $100 bucks "ONE WAY" That adds up quick on multiple rentals. Which I would have to do because I can't work on the project for 8 hours a day for weeks at at time.

After all the clearing is done if I rented I still wouldn't have the proper machine to maintain the property which if I didn't do I might as have been throwing money in the trash because it will just get grown over again. That is why I'm shopping for a tractor. You have already got the worst part of the big investment out of the way by already owning the tractor. In short, I would get the backhoe for your current machine. That hoe will serve you well and at the end of the day, you can always sell it after you've done your clearing and not lose much if you got the clearing done in a year or two. Just my 2 cents!

 

[Ted Summey]

I disagree that renting is not cost effective. For most of us our equipment is often idle with money tied up. Adding another piece of equipment with additional money tied up and sitting idle for the convenience of having it when you want isn't necessarily cost effective either. That is especially difficult to have money tied up long term in machinery that was purchased for a specific task that is long over. Recovery of that money in total is rare.

I say rent the machine you need for a week or two and commit to doing he work that needs to be done.

The alternative is to hire the heavy work done and finish the job with the equipment you have or add for a small relative price. We have four tractors and still hire heavy equipment when needed. The job gets done quicker and is done right.

 

[chemteck29]

I disagree that renting is not cost effective. For most of us our equipment is often idle with money tied up. Adding another piece of equipment with additional money tied up and sitting idle for the convenience of having it when you want isn't necessarily cost effective either. That is especially difficult to have money tied up long term in machinery that was purchased for a specific task that is long over. Recovery of that money in total is rare.

I say rent the machine you need for a week or two and commit to doing he work that needs to be done.

The alternative is to hire the heavy work done and finish the job with the equipment you have or add for a small relative price. We have four tractors and still hire heavy equipment when needed. The job gets done quicker and is done right.

On some level I agree, if you have the money up front it does make some sense to hire out the initial clearing. But there again the OP already has the expensive part in the tractor and the difference between adding the backhoe and hiring someone to Doze, Load everthing in a dump truck and then haul it away probably isn't going to be much at all. For example it's approxiamately $2,000-$3000 and acre to have the lot completely cleared where I live and that doesn't include finish grading. It's probably more than that where he lives. I would bet that he could add just the hoe for darn close to that depending on how much he wanted cleared and then he still has the hoe afterwards to use as he wishes or sell and recoup a good portion of what he spent on the hoe. So there is a trade off there. Hiring it out is more often then not going to be faster and it might even be cheaper initially but in the end if he chose to sell the Hoe after he'd come out ahead. In my case, I would still need a proper tractor to maintain the property once it's cleared. So it makes little sense for me to hire it out either. Not too mention I'd personally love the seat time!

 

[daschluck]

I guess I am in the camp of owning vs. renting for all the reasons already mentioned by Gil Case (I agree completely). It is not only an economic decision, if all those that own pools and rv's relied on the economics they wouldn't own either. It surely is cheaper to belong to the Y or rent a cabin somewhere. The way I look at it, I don't use my backhoe that often, but when I do, man it is nice to have. And I can use it on whim, when ever I feel like it.

If I were some sort of contractor and only needed it for one specific job, by all means I would rent. But living on 10 acres there is always something that pops up where my backhoe is real handy. That's my humble opinion.